Pallet truck



April 24, 1951 Filed Aug. 26, 1947 H. J. FRAMHEIN 21,550,548

PALLET TRUCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY H. J. FRAMHEIN PALLET TRUCK April 24, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 26, 1947 .gw V.

Patented Apr. 24, 1951 UNITED STATES aPATENT OFFICE l f Y 2,550,548 Y Y PALLET, TRUCK Herbert J. Framhein, Chicago, Ill.

Application August ze, 1947, serial No. 770,670

This invention relates to a truck, and more particularly to that type of truck that is shown and described in my Patent No. 2,417,395. In trucks of the particular. class, the forward-end is known as a lifting head while the rear portion of the truck is 'designated an elevating platform.

The forward end of the elevating platform ismounted for lifting movement relatively to the lifting head and generally has such movement imparted thereto by a hydraulic ram.

Trucks of the particular class are adapted for vuse with pallets generally equipped with'upper height,v in order to enter between the floors of the pallet. It is customary, further, to mount under the rear end of the elevating platform of the trucks of the class described, opposed lifting wheel links pivoted to the platform and each having' mounted thereon a lifting wheel. Means are provided for rotating the lifting wheel links about their pivots asl the forward end of the elevating platform is raised, thereby raising the rear end of the elevating platform simultaneously with the forward end.

Because the lifting wheel carried by eachlifting wheel link is necessarily very small in diameter, it follows that any obstacle placed in its path will greatly increase the tractive pull that is required to move the truck. This is especially true where the wheel enters a depression or hole in a floor. In that case, due to its small peripheral diameter, the wheel will actually almost block the truck against movement. Y

Many efforts have been made to contribute a truck of the class describedin which the lifting wheels willnot hinder the movement of .the truck .in the manner set forth, but so far as I know, no

successful truck of the class described has yet been contributed to the art, and the problem here outlined remains unsolved. It is the object of my invention to contribute a truck -ofA the class described, and using small lifting wheels, in which no real obstacle will be presented against the movement of the truck where the floor on which the truck is moved contains small openings and depressions.

.As a feature of my invention whereby the ob- .jects thereof are attained, I utilize a pair of lon-` gitudinally spaced lifting'wheel links at each side of the truckand each carrying a wheel thereon, with the lifting' wheel links rotatable together relatively to the truck elevating platform.

' preciate that be `better understood, and in order that f i t and l'i' extendingl 5 claims. (ci. 254-10) as a still further feature of the invention, the ,lil-ting wheel links are adapted for parallelogravn coaction so that the wheels carried thereby wi move in parallelism. With this arrangement, should one Vwheel tend to move 'into a depression or the like, it will actually beheld out of the depression because of the contact between the other wheel and the floor or ground. I have found by actual trial that atruck constructed in accordance with my teachings will move over a rough floor, or a floor formed with holes and. depressions, without presenting the extreme didicuties of prior art trucks.

l have thus outlined rather broadly the more important features of my invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may my contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of my invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the art will apthe conception on which my disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures for carrying out the several purposes of my invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims to` be granted me shall be of suicient breadth to prevent the appropriation of my invention by those skilled in the art.

Referring now to the drawings:

Fig. l is an elevation of a truck of the general class described, showing my invention therein embodied. Fig. 2 is a view looking downwardly on one leg of the truck platform. Fig. 3 is a section taken along lines 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section taken along lines 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the truck in which my invention is embodied is shown formed with a lifting head lll having a forward steering and traction unit Il and a battery l2. The lifting head is further equipped with a rear vertical standard I3, and pivoted to the standard I3 at It and l5, are links from the4 vertical standard ill of the elevating platform IS of the truck. A hydraulic ram 2% is positioned between points 2| and 22 of the elevating platformand the lifting head respectively, and is adapted to lift the forward end of the elevating platform relatively to the lifting head. Through means of suitable links 23 and 24, the lifting movement of the forward end of the elevating platform is accompanied by a pull on a' tension rod 125.v There are two such roos 25, one' under each leg 26 of the U-shaped Vlinear distance by. the wheel 33.

and through the short links [in present structures..

platform of the truck. At this point it will be well to indicate that the truck so far set forth is fully and completely described in my patent supra, and the construction thereof is not per se the invention covered by this application. I shall now proceed to disclose the novel features of the invention of this application.

In the usual truck such as shown in my patent supra and so far here described, the tension rod under eachleg 26 of the U-platform is adapted to rotate a lifting wheel link having a lifting wheel thereon. In my invention, instead of using one lifting wheel link for each leg of the U-platform of the truck, I use two lifting wheel links, one being designated generally by reference numeral and the other'by reference numeral 3|. Lifting wheel link 30 is pivoted about a shaft 32 relatively to the particular leg 26 of the elevating platform I9 of my truck il,

lustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. Mounted on lifting wheel link 33 Vis a wheel 33 of extremely small .diameter rotatable about an axle 33 supported on the link 3i). It will be noted that the link 33 extends horizontally rearwardly from the pivot shaft 33 and then downwardly at an angle tovward the ground.

A second lifting wheel link 3| is mounted on each leg 2S of the U-platform through a pivot shaft 35 and carries on an axle 36, a wheel 3l. It will be noted that link 3| extends downwardly and then horizontally so that wheel 31 may lie under link 33 and in close coupled relation to the wheel 33. It will further be noted that the between the axes of shaft 32 and axle 3d is the same as the tween shaft 35 and axle 36. It will, moreover, be

`appreciated that when the leg 26 of the elevating platform is horizontal, the line between the pivot shafts 35, 32 will also be horizontal, and a line between axles 33, 33, will, of course, also be horizontal.

A link 33, as best seen in Figs. 2 and 4, is sen cured at its ends to the axles 33, 36 to hold the axles with their centers spaced exactly the same distance as the centers of shafts 32, 35. Naturally there are two such links 38, one at each side of the axles 34, 33. Because of the particular arrangement, the links 3Q, 3| are adapted for parallelogram action. Therefore, should the wheel 3l move over a broken portion 4D of the iioor or ground, it will not enter the depression l?, but will remain above it, as well illustrated in Fig. 3, the entire load being then supported This is due to the fact that there is no compensation between wheels 33 and 3l, and because of the parallelogram action indicated.

Tension rod 25 is pivoted at 4| to the link 3|, 38 to the link 30. Because of this arrangement, a pull on the tension rods 25 of two legs 23 of the platform will effect the lifting movement of the wheels 33, 31 on the links 33, 3| from the full line position to the dash and dotted line position of Fig. 1.

Those skilled in the art will now fully appreciate that I have contributed a truck in which I am able to use the lifting mechanism well known and well developed by the prior art together with the small lifting wheels required by -the standard pallet construction of the art. It will further be appreciated that through my arrangement I make it possible to pull a truck of the class described over a `relatively rough floor or other terrain, without the diinculties inherent .I believe that the comlinear distance beplete utility and value of my invention, as well as its great simplicity, will now be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art.

I now claim:

1. In a truck of the class described, a wheel supported lifting head, an elevating platform supported at its forward end on said lifting head, means for lifting the forward end of said elevating platform relatively to said lifting head, a pair of lifting links pivoted to the rear end of said platform at each side thereof in longitudinally spaced but close coupled relation, a lifting wheel mounted on each lifting link with said wheels being all of the same diameter, the distance between each pivot and each wheel axis equal, means for rotating said lifting links on their pivots and relatively to said platform as the forward end of said elevating platform is lifted relatively to said lifting head, and means of conneetion between said links for moving both said links simultaneously.

2. In a truck of the class described, a wheel supporting lifting head, an elevating platform pivoted at its forward end to said lifting head for upward pivotal movement relatively thereto, four .lifting links, means pivoting two of said links on each side of said elevating platform at longitudinally spaced points maintained at the same level horizontally when said elevating piatform is held in a predetermined position, a lifting wheel mounted on each of said links with the axes of said wheels maintained in the same level horizontally when said elevating platform is in said predetermined position, said wheels being all of the same diameter, means whereby said links are maintained functionally parallel in all positions thereof, and means for lifting the forward end of said elevating platform relatively to said lifting head and simultaneously rotating said lifting links on their pivots and relatively to said platform. g

3. In a truck of the class described, a lifting head, an elevating platform pivoted at its forward end to said lifting head for upward pivotal Inovement relatively thereto, a lifting link pivoted tothe underside of said platform and extending substantially horizontally rearwardly from said pivot under said elevating platform and then downwardly, a lifting wheel rotatably mounted on the rear end of said lifting link, a, second lifting link pivoted to the underside of said platform just longitudinally forwardly of said rst lifting link and extending rearwardly downwardly and then substantially horizontally, a second lifting wheel rotatably mounted on the rear end of said lifting link under a part of said first lifting link and in of connection between said links whereby 'they `move together, and means for lifting the forward end of said elevating platform relatively to said lifting head and simultaneously rotating said lifting links on their pivots and relatively to said platform.

4. In a truck of the class described, a lifting head, an elevating platform pivoted at its forward end to said lifting head for upward pivotal movement relatively thereto, a lifting link pivoted to the underside of said platform and extending substantially horizontally rearwardly from said pivot under said elevating platform then downwardly, a lifting wheel rotatably mounted on the rear end of said lifting link, a second lifting link pivoted to the underside of said platform just forwardly of said first lifting link and extending rearwardly downwardly and then substan- 5 tially horizontally, a second lifting wheel rotatably mounted on the rear end of said lifting link under a part of said irst lifting link and in close coupled relation to saidrst wheel, the pivot axes of said lifting links being at the same level and the axes of said wheels being also at the same level when said elevating platform is in a predetermined position, means of connection octween said links whereby they move together on their pivots, and means for lifting the forward end of said elevating platform relatively to said lifting head and simultaneously rotating said lifting links on their pivots and relatively to said platform.

5. In a truck of the class described, a lifting head, an elevating platform pivoted at its forward end to said lifting head for upward pivotal movement relatively thereto, a lifting link pivoted to the underside of said platform and extending substantially horizontally rearwardly from said pivot under said elevating platform and then downwardly, a lifting wheel rotatably mounted on the rear end of said lifting link, a second lifting link pivoted to the underside of said platform just forwardly of said first lifting link and extending rearwardly downwardly and then substantially horizontally, a second lifting wheel rotatably mounted on the rear end of said lifting linl; under a part of said first lifting link and in close coupled relation to said first wheel, said lifting link pivot and Wheel axes being positioned softhat said links are adapted for parallelogram action, means holding said links in a parallelogram arrangement for simultaneous rotation on their pivots, and means for lifting the forward end. of said elevating platform relatively to said lifting head and simultaneously rotating said lifting links on their pivots and relatively to said platform.

HERBERT J. FRAMHEIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

